What Is a Buk Missile?

Evidence is mounting that Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was struck by a surface-to-air missile system Thursday while flying over the battle-torn east Ukraine region of Donetsk, located near the Russian border. New intelligence is pointing the finger at Russia as the supplier of the deadly antiaircraft missile.

U.S. Ties Russia to Malaysia Airlines Flight 17

U.S. intelligence indicates that Moscow likely provided pro-Russia separatists with the SA-11 missile systems, also known as the Buk-M1, bolstering charges that Russia was the source of the weapon that shot down the plane, killing 283 passengers and 15 crew members. U.S. officials also believe the systems were moved back across the border into Russia after the plane was shot down.

The Range of a Buk-M1

MH17 was flying at about 33,000 feet when it was likely shot down. Developed by the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation, Buk missiles can strike targets above 70,000 feet and fly at three times the speed of sound.

The Power of a Buk-M1

The antiaircraft system can fire roughly 18-foot-long missiles that carry a large high-explosive warhead weighing more than 120 pounds guided by a ground-based radar station, and can bring down an aircraft with a single hit, but they aren’t accurate enough to tell the difference between a passenger airliner and military aircraft. A Buk launcher takes roughly five minutes to warm up and 12 minutes to reload. The vehicle is typically run by a highly trained three-man crew.

How Did the Pro-Russians Separatists Get the Buk Missile System?

Ukraine has released videos allegedly showing the Buk missile systems traveling through eastern Ukraine near the site where the plane went down. Reports that rebels had possession of a Buk-M1 came as early as June 29, when separatists overran a Ukrainian armed-forces base in the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine.

The counterintelligence chief at Ukraine’s national security service, Vitaly Nayda, said that his agency became aware that the rebels possessed three Buk-M1 antiaircraft systems as of July 14. Photographs and electronic intercepts, compiled by Ukrainian intelligence operatives, show that three Buk-M1 systems were shipped out of eastern Ukraine in the early morning of July 18, just hours after MH17 was shot down, according to Mr. Nayda. He said that a system missing a missile crossed the border in a flatbed truck to Russia at 2 a.m. on July 18, and two other missile systems with a complete set of missiles in their battery crossed at 4 a.m.

Where Does Russia Stand?

Russia has denied it has any control over the rebels. Armed groups kept monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe from gaining full access to the crash site. Outrage grew Saturday over the rebel hold on the site, with European leaders calling for Russian President Vladimir Putin to do more to use his influence to get them to hand it over.